Apple is facing a federal lawsuit from three users who say they collectively lost more than $1.8 million after downloading a fraudulent cryptocurrency wallet app from the App Store. The suit was filed in July 2026 in the U.S. District Court of Northern California.
The three plaintiffs — James Ramirez, Christopher Ellis, and Jalen Delgado — claim they downloaded a fake version of Sparrow Wallet, a Bitcoin wallet whose official app is not available on iOS. After transferring their Bitcoin to the fraudulent app, Ramirez lost approximately $875,000, Ellis lost around $840,000, and Delgado lost roughly $120,000.
The lawsuit directly challenges Apple’s long-standing claim that its app review process makes the App Store safer than competing platforms. According to the complaint, Apple has marketed its platform as offering superior security by retaining exclusive control over which apps are permitted on its devices — a position the company has also used to resist calls for third-party app stores and sideloading.
The plaintiffs also accuse Apple of knowingly allowing fraudulent apps to remain live, citing public statements from Craig Raw, the creator of the legitimate Sparrow Bitcoin Wallet, who said Apple had permitted fake Sparrow apps to persist on the store.
Apple declined to comment on the lawsuit but told TechCrunch that apps impersonating others violate its guidelines and that it takes swift action to remove them. The company said there are currently no Sparrow Wallet copycats on the App Store, and pointed to its 2025 ecosystem analysis, which reported that it rejected more than 371,000 submissions that copied other apps, were spam, or otherwise misled users.
The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial, reimbursement of their losses, additional damages, and disclosures from Apple about the risks of downloading apps from its store.
Source: TechCrunch